


Locked Away

by Microsoftgirl24



Category: His Dark Materials (TV), His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, The Book of Dust - Philip Pullman
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Needs A Hug, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Marisa Coulter Needs a Hug, Mother-Daughter Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:27:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28881690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Microsoftgirl24/pseuds/Microsoftgirl24
Summary: Lyra Silvertongue was all grown up now and alone, after escaping the attack by the CCD at Jordan college. She's landed herself within their holding cells after being found. Only she isn't as alone as she thought.
Relationships: Lyra Belacqua & Marisa Coulter, Lyra Belacqua/Will Parry
Comments: 5
Kudos: 55





	Locked Away

A jingle of keys awoke them as footsteps from boots and a figure being dragged along the floor was brought to the gate of their cell. They could only see through blurry eyes having only just awoken from a nightmare plagued sleep, memories from years ago. They were laying upon a thin cot in the corner of the cell, near a small opening to the outside closed off with more metal thick bars placed upon decaying mortar stone, just as they were decaying away within this damp cold dark cell. 

The magisterium officers opened the main metal gate before dropping the person like a rag doll upon the cold wet stone floor of the prison. The person’s daemon scampered towards the person quickly as if the person could suddenly overpower the guards and make an escape. 

The person was quick; they quickly threw a sucker punch to one of the officers jaws landing a clear shot getting them square in the jaw before blocking a blow from the other. Meanwhile the other officer who had clutched their jaw in quick pain then sent a cheap shot to the person's gut causing them to double over for a moment for the two officers to quickly leave the cell and slam shut the barred door behind them.

In some light they could see it was a young woman with dark brown hair, before the woman was mainly covered in the darkness once more. 

The woman stood quickly back up from being hunched over on the floor from the stomach blow to then grab the bars viciously nearly growling with such ferioucouness. It reminded the other person in the cell of themselves long ago. 

The woman pulled at the bars tugging them as if it would magically open, after a moment or two the woman calmed down their breathing evened out before they sighed bowing their head at the situation before going to sit down with their back against the wall next to the cell door. 

The woman sat there with their feet in front of them, they could only see a shadow of fluttering as the woman's daemon sat next to them however not close to their human. 

It was dark in the cell, very little light was visible within hiding the other person from the new person that had just been dragged in. 

The original occupant of the cell was curious on who the woman was for they hadn’t seen another person in years besides the one who brings them their meals and the standard guards. 

The new prisoner must be dangerously important to the magisterium or they wouldn’t have placed them in the same cell. 

* * *

“and who might you be?”

It was an older woman’s voice that caught Lyra by surprise, she gasped before lifting her head in the dark to squint only to see a shadowy figure in the dark of the cell on the other end. 

Lyra couldn’t see much however it was clear to her now she wasn’t the only person within the cell. Pan would have thought to Lyra that this was some deja vu going on, reminding them of svalbard all those years ago, however he kept quiet and distant. As did Lyra. 

“I’m no one” Lyra spoke softly not trusting a shadowy figure let alone anyone, she shrunk in on herself a sullen expression upon her face; her guard up. 

“Well no one…..you must be someone for the magisterium to put you here” the woman spoke with a barely audible silky voice. 

“They believe I’m dangerous…..it’s nothing but bullshit” Lyra’s face contorted into annoyance and slight anger over the situation over her life and her reputation all based from her past and a prophecy she now knew of and wouldn’t hear the end of. 

The woman flinched at the vulgar language used. “Well from what I saw, you seemed to handle those guards pretty well. How did you learn to fight like that?” 

“......a friend” Lyra spoke softly, feelings of loss and loneliness crept in as she thought of Will and how he left. How they had to part. 

“Perhaps this friend will come rescue you?”

“That’s not possible…..”

“Oh?”

“….They’re gone”

“Gone?” The woman seemed intrigued, albeit a little sympathetic. As if identifying with Lyra, being alone. 

“Lost them a long time ago” 

“You don’t have any family?” the woman asked curiously, everyone always had someone. 

Lyra said nothing, as she stared off into one of the dark corners. Answering the woman’s question without uttering a word. Lyra didn’t really know what family sadly meant, for she never really had one. 

“So you’re all alone…...”

“Always have….most of my life…..There _were_ people that I loved and they cared for me, tried to keep me safe…..They died because of me and whoever survived….left. I’ve seen things you wouldn’t even begin to imagine. People from all over, fighting for what they believed to be right. Only for them to lose everything…..for me to lose everything.” 

“I’m sorry” 

“Don’t be, I’ll be alright. Always have been” Lyra hid behind a false soft smile as she fought tears from surfacing within her eyes suppressing her pain back deep down. 

There was a silence for a moment, as if the woman debated speaking. Before she worked herself up to share. 

“I’ve lost people…..I lost my love…..Now there is only one person I care about. But I’m afraid I’ll never see her again. I would do anything to be with her, she was the best of me.... My daughter” the woman spoke with a shaky saddened tone, which made Lyra feel a little less alone. 

“I’m sure your daughter misses you” Lyra’s eyes softened as she was brought back to memories or her own mother. Leaving her in that cave, she could still hear her mother’s cries and her calling for her as she had left her behind. 

“I was trying to save her; I don’t even know if I succeeded” the woman stared off into a corner of the cell in deep thought, Lyra still in thought herself barely heard the woman only catching the end of her sentence. 

“What did they capture you for?” the woman then desperately sought to change the subject, hoping to get some answers; more so eager to talk to another person other than her daemon. 

“They blame me for the downfall of the magisterium. They destroyed my home….they’ve been after me for years. Seems they’ve finally succeeded''

Lyra then began to sit up before she began to pace within the cell looking around as if for an exit or a point of escape; she was Lyra Silvertongue. There had to be a way. 

The woman then began to look towards Lyra with an intense curiosity as she only had more questions to ask her as her words sunk in. 

“You won’t find a way out, I’ve tried everything for years. We’re trapped” the woman spoke weakly, as thoughts stirred inside her own head as she analyzed what Lyra had just told her.

“You may be trapped, however hopefully we won’t be for long” Lyra said determined, she wouldn’t let the magisterium win. Not in the past, not now. Lyra bagan patting her pockets as if in search of something, before sighing when she had appeared to have found it. 

“Good, they didn’t take it. While they may have captured me, they were not intelligent enough to take this”

The woman suddenly watched as she reached within her pocket and removed an object the woman had only seen many many years ago. She gasped, as her whole body seized as emotions then hit her like a car. 

A golden alethiometer.

Lyra hesitated glancing at it as if unsure and hesitant.

“It’s the only way” Lyra spoke to herself before she shakily opened it, breathed out as she then began to turn the dials upon the sides as if with experience. 

They could hear the gears turning before Lyra closed her eyes within the silence as the woman watched on in paralyzing shock. 

Suddenly the alethiometer moved by it’s own, Lyra studied it for a moment or two as if reading it before she smiled softly before quickly closing it. She went over to the far wall near one of the corners, knocking her knuckles along some of the stone bricks upon the wall.

“What is your name?” 

Lyra froze at the woman’s emotional voice, her shoulders flinched as goosebumps reached her suddenly. The tone of voice the woman had, suddenly hit her ears properly as if she had heard the voice in a dream. More so many years ago as a little girl. 

There was silence as she continued to knock upon the wall as if in search of something, ignoring the woman not wishing to disclose who she was; if she did the woman may be killed because of association. Ignoring the feeling inside of her, imagining hearing someone else long gone within this woman’s voice. 

“What is your name...please?” the woman now begged with tears in her eyes, she began to cautiously stand up with some difficulty leaning against the wall a little unsteady. 

  
  


Suddenly Lyra found what she had been looking for as she began to pull a stone from the wall that was loose to find it hollow before dropping a key from inside the stone into her hand.

She went to turn around only to find the woman no longer was in the shadows however now right in front of her. She could see only part of the older woman’s face, there were tears within her eyes and tear streaks upon the woman’s face.

Her eyes were piercing blue, cold and still as the ice and snow in the north. 

“Look at me” Lyra quickly avoided the woman's gaze, keeping her head down hiding in the shadows before eventually her own curiosity overcame her, letting the woman look at her in the light.

“Lyra?” the woman softly wished as if she was part of a dream, her voice was filled with sadness and hope, it struck Lyra deep.

That voice……those eyes.

“Mother?” she wondered as if she herself was dreaming, for her mother was dead.

She had died, she fell into the abyss with her father. They sacrificed themselves for her in the end. 

The woman’s mouth wobbled from suppressed sobs as she raised a hand out towards Lyra, gently taking in the side of Lyra’s face stroking it gently with such love. A love Lyra never experienced from the woman since that cave years and years ago. 

“You’re here, you’re actually here. I never thought I would see you again” Marisa spoke through tears, for Lyra she was transported back in time when she left the cave with Will. Leaving her mother behind. The pain of leaving her, Will had to drag her away. 

“I thought- …...you were gone. They told me you fell” Lyra held tears in her eyes as memories and her feelings about her mother surfaced.

“I’m here” 

Lyra crashed her body into her mother holding her tight, desperately not caring if it was a dream she wanted her mother. She missed her so much, regardless of what she had done. Her mother had loved her that much was true, Lyra missed her. 

Lyra tears bled onto her mother's clothes and shoulder as held onto the woman like a life preserver in an endless deep dark ocean.

Her mother held her hugging her back tightly, she swayed with Lyra within her arms. The last time she had held Lyra was when she was but a little girl. Lyra was all grown up before her eyes, it made more tears spring to Marisa’s eyes. 

“You look so grown up...I missed so much” Marisa sniffled through her tears as she lightly chuckled happily at her daughter. As for the first time in years happiness washed over her at the sight of her grown up daughter standing before her now. 

Lyra let go of her mother’s embrace to look at the woman, she looked much older with greying hair. She looked so different from what she remembered however the longer Lyra stared she could see the outlines of her mother. Especially the piercing blue eyes her mother held looking towards her. 

Lyra’s mother clutched Lyra’s face within her hands as she looked over Lyra’s face, analyzing every detail making mental comparisons to the little girl she remembered seeing last and the young woman in front of her now. 

“What happened to the little girl I used to know, my little girl?”

Lyra then slowly pulled away from her mother’s hands upon her face softly, as her face fell from thoughts of her life since she last saw her mother. The war, the land of the undead. 

Will leaving and the loneliness that followed her for years. Reality hitting.

“She grew up” 

Marisa stared at her daughter with a saddened expression, as Lyra stared back at her pained with echoes of the past. 

Marisa Coulter saw her younger self within her daughter. 

She sighed as another tear made it’s way down her wrinkled aged face. 


End file.
